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The Word ‘Nigger’ Is Part of Our Lexicon

Jill Nelson is the author of “Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience” and, most recently, “Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island.”

Updated January 6, 2011, 3:57 PM

I live in a city where I probably hear the word “nigger” 50 times a day from people of all colors and ages, though primarily from young people on public transportation. It is a salutation, a term of affection, occasionally an epithet, but most often, I think, verbal filler, a younger generation’s equivalent of their elders use of “like” or “you know.”

What’s next? Substituting orange for red in a painter’s work because some observers find red too aggressive?

Like it or not, and you know, that’s another conversation, the word is part of our public and private lexicon, and the notion that contemporary readers of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are surprised or offended by the word seems questionable. Yet even if they are, one of the intentions of art is to provoke and unsettle. Surely Mark Twain did not intend the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to have the equivalent effect on readers of Margaret Wise Brown’s lovely and lulling children’s classic, “Goodnight Moon.”

There are vast differences between calling a character “nigger” and calling them “slave.” They are not interchangeable. Writers choose their words thoughtfully. Our words create, color, layer and texture and contextalize the stories we tell. The notion that one can change one of those carefully chosen words -- much less 219 of them -- to suit their perception of contemporary mores and eliminate the possibility of hurt sensibilities is an abdication of a teacher’s responsibility to illuminate and guide students through an unfamiliar and perhaps difficult text. What’s next? Substituting orange for red in a painter’s work because some observers find red too aggressive?